The Washington Post has an article up about Republican elites panicking about the prospect of either Donald Trump or Ben Carson winning the nomination. The piece is about what you’d expect, but it does have one anonymous quote that I think is worth sharing:
The apprehension among some party elites goes beyond electability, according to one Republican strategist who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly about the worries.
“We’re potentially careening down this road of nominating somebody who frankly isn’t fit to be president in terms of the basic ability and temperament to do the job,” this strategist said. “It’s not just that it could be somebody Hillary could destroy electorally, but what if Hillary hits a banana peel and this person becomes president?”
Another way of putting this is that the political concern is in jeopardy of getting trumped by a basic responsible concern for the welfare of the country. I think we saw some of this back in 2008 when Barack Obama was able to capitalize on a combination of the complete implosion of the Bush administration on every level and concerns about the temperament and suitability of both McCain and Palin to peel off traditionally right-leaning elites. It wasn’t just Colin Powell who defected, but William Buckley’s son and the offspring of Dwight Eisenhower and many big-name investors and capitalists.
There’s a point where folks will actually give up on the GOP and vote for the Democrat, and it’s really not that big of a leap to put your trust in the Clintons. You kind of know what you’re going to get and they’ve got a record of basic competence.
This isn’t the only way that the Clintons can conceivably build a supermajority coalition but it’s an important one. The Establishment may be looking weak in this election cycle, but they have the money and the printing presses, and if they drop a lot of their internal divisions and rally around Hillary Clinton, it’s going to make a big difference.
It wouldn’t last, of course. It didn’t even last for LBJ. But think of what LBJ accomplished in those first two years.